Top-Clicked Phishing Email Subjects: Q3 2020

Each quarter, KnowBe4 - the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform - publishes the top-clicked phishing emails by subject lines. The results come from their millions of users reporting real phishing emails. The subjects are categorized into three different categories: those related to social media, general subjects, and 'In the Wild'.

The first two categories contain email subjects created by KnowBe4 to test their clients’ security posture. ‘In the Wild’ attacks refer to those email subjects that were real phishing emails and not KnowBe4 templates.

Top Clicked Email Subjects

Top-Clicked Social Media Related Subjects in Q3 2020:

1. People are looking at your LinkedIn profile

2. You appeared in new LinkedIn searches this week

3. Please add me to your LinkedIn Network

4. Join my network on LinkedIn

5. Someone has sent you a Direct Message on Twitter

6. Your friend tagged you in photos on Facebook

7. New voice message at 1:23AM

8. Login alert for Chrome on Motorola Moto X

9. Someone may have accessed your account

10. You have a new WhatsApp message

Top 10 Most-Clicked General Email Subjects in Q3 2020: 

1. Payroll deduction form

2. Please review the leave law requirements

3. Password Check Required Immediately

4. Required to read or complete: “COVID-19 Safety Policy”

5. COVID-19 Remote Work Policy Update

6. Vacation Policy Update

7. Scheduled Server Maintenance -- No Internet Access

8. Your team shared “COVID 19 Amendment and Emergency leave pay policy” with you via OneDrive

9. Official Quarantine Notice

10. COVID-19: Return to Work Guidelines and Requirements

Most Common 'In the Wild' Attacks in Q3 2020:

1. Microsoft: View your Microsoft 365 Business Basic Invoice

2. HR: Pandemic Policy Update

3. IT: Remote Access Infrastructure

4. Facebook: Account Warning

5. Check your passport expiration date

6. TeleMed Appointment Reminder

7. Twitter: Confirm your identity

8. Apple Take part in out iPhone 12 trial and enter for the chance to win a FREE iPhone12

9. Exchange ActiveSync service disabled for [[email]]

10. HR: Benefit Report

Key Takeaways

1. Fake LinkedIn messages consistently top the list of social media email subjects. There is likely a perception that these emails are legitimate because they appear to be coming from a professional network. It's a significant problem because many LinkedIn users have their accounts tied to their corporate email addresses. Top-clicked subjects in this category reveal password resets, tagging of photos and new messages.

2. Phishing email attacks leveraging COVID-19 have been on every quarterly report this year, and they still made up 50% of the total in Q3 2020.

3. Cybercriminals continue to prey on heightened stress, distraction, urgency, curiosity, and fear in users brought on by the pandemic and working from home. These types of attacks are effective because they cause a person to react before thinking logically about the legitimacy of the email.

   See KnowBe4’s original post.

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